and if barack obama can't do something with that in the next debate, then there's really some problem with his debate performance because this is a slow one coming in over the plate. the trouble that the president has in talking about the whole subject is he can't be too optimistic -- of course. >> -- because in the past what's happened is when he's gotten too far ahead of himself in saying that things are looking rosy, there are still a lot of people out there who are hurting and they don't want to hear that. the president has to kind of walk a fine line. but any rational person should know when there's signs of hope, to run them down and minimize them and tell people that it's not good news isn't helpful for anybody except maybe your political fortunes. >> incapable of celebrating good news. julian, jonathan, thank you both. >>> neck, mitt walks his words backwards. >> let me see if i can come up with a two-minute answer that might have been more effective. liar! lie, lie, lie, liar, lie, lie, lie, lie, liar! [ thunder crashes ] [ male announcer ] if you think all batteries are the